


Those Left Behind

by vrepitsals



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 15:39:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11763024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vrepitsals/pseuds/vrepitsals
Summary: The parents of Lance, Pidge and Hunk have a support group to grieve those they’ve lost





	Those Left Behind

Colleen Holt sends the room a grateful smile and tries somewhat to hold on to her tea like it isn’t her one lifeline holding her in the world.

Amongst any other people she would force herself to be successful, but all of them have suffered the same blow. All of them know that these get togethers are a time to grieve as much as they are a time to learn to cope.

Six months ago she wouldn’t have been able to muster up the energy to try at all.

Mrs Garrett asks her about her week at the lab, one hand resting on her wife’s knee.

The Garretts  are big fans of talking things out, she’s come to realise. She’s thankful, enjoys hearing about all the science fair projects Hunk built out of things he found lying around the house, all the birthday presents and cards he spent Saturday afternoons and his allowance making.  

She knows they still display every one. They’re determined not to let the pain cloud their happy memories.

She agrees with them on every point. She really does.

A part of her just worries that if she starts talking about her husband’s sense of humour and her son’s heart full of love for Earth even as he dreamt of the stars, and her daughter, sharper than a tack, who she promised herself she wouldn’t lose as well, couldn’t go on if she lost as well, she’s worried she’ll never stop.

Her life before was bursting at the seams, after all. The last eighteen months has ripped out all the stuffing.

She’s seen Lance’s father clench his teeth whenever he is asked a question so many times that she’s come to expect it. He doesn’t like to speak here. Whether he does at all remains to be seen.

Then again, he and his wife probably spend all week talking about it. Helping their other children through the loss of their brother. Emptying the well for the sake of their family so often that they find it dry as a bone whenever they try to quench their thirst.

So she talks.

She tells them about the new undergrads who can scarcely use a Bunsen burner, and the post-grads' slightly illegal side businesses to pay rent.

She talks so that Hunk’s parents can too, and so Lance’s don’t have to.

She talks so that, perhaps for a moment, she can pretend there’s something worth hanging on to.

But she never mentions the past. That’s the one concession she allows herself. 

She’s volunteered to respond to any emergencies at work this weekend, put on some sort of permanent rotation she’s told her boss three times so far that she won’t lose. So when she receives a message she’s already put her mug on a hand painted coaster, ready to politely excuse herself.

Instead, a shriek is pulled from her throat as she all but throws the device onto the floor in front of her.

She’s lucky it’s carpet.

At once, four people reach forward, but she shrinks back, points at the offending object as if it were a cockroach in need of the bottom of a shoe.

Her mantra to pretend everything is fine has left her at its most crucial moment.

It doesn’t respond well to ghosts.

As Lance’s mother lays a hand an inch above her shoulder (she’s a psychologist, so of course she’s going to know how to handle whatever psychotic break Colleen knows she’s experiencing), his father bends down to pick up the devil in circuit form.

She’s so sure he’ll glance at the screen and then look at her with one eyebrow raised, that her chest nearly collapses when he almost drops the damn thing again.

It’s not the first time someone has impersonated her daughter, normally requesting money so she can ‘get home’ from wherever she’s ended up.

It’s the first time they’ve used the correct name and pronouns.

She stays stock still for what feels like millennia.

The world has ended. The sun exploded. The universe expanded to the point of collapse.

Cool metal is laid gently into her palm.

“There’s a video message,” is the only explanation she’s given.

She takes it into shaky hands. Can’t remember for the life of her what her passcode is, until the back of her mind reminds her that it’s the date Sam and Matt were due back from Kerberos.

The message is sitting open. All she has to do is press play.

It takes her ten minutes to muster up the nerve.

When it opens to a nervous smile framed by wild brown hair she chokes back a sob and tries to stop the tears from blocking out everything she’s wanted to see for the last six months.

“Hi Mum, it’s me. I’m all right,” is spoken to her by the voice of an angel, God herself.

“You’re not going to believe this, but when I disappeared I was transported to an alien planet, and now I’m part of a team that’s fighting an evil galactic empire out to destroy the entire universe. Basically I’m Luke Skywalker.”

She can’t stop herself from trying to touch the screen, trying to find a way to transport herself to who knows where.

“I’m on an alien ship at the moment. It turns out we were right all along hey?

The girl on the screen does the little chuckle that is one hundred percent Katie, and Colleen scoffs at the Grinch whose heart grew a measly three sizes.

"Umm, I’m really sorry I haven’t messaged you sooner,” Katie wipes at her eye, but Colleen can tell she’s so close to breaking, “I’ve been trying to find out a way to contact you, but we haven’t had much time, and we’re galaxies away.”

She needs to reach through the screen and hug her daughter.

As if by sheer force of will, a hand appears on her shoulder.

Mrs Holt can hear gasps from around her at its familiar shape, but she can’t draw her gaze away from the central figure.

“Lance and Hunk are here with me. They’re going to record something for their parents too, so maybe give them a heads up if you can.”

She hears someone praise God, and adds an 'amen’ without a second thought.

“But Mum, Shiro is here, the pilot of Dad and Matt’s mission. They’re alive. The whole crew was taken prisoner by a group of evil aliens. I’m going to find them Mum. I’m going to bring them home.”

She can see that her daughter looks almost ready to fall down. Knowing Katie, she’s probably been working on the transmission for days on end, and started making the video without a moment’s rest.

“I’m not sure how long it’ll take to send another message, but I’ll keep working on it. I should be able to let you send videos back, we may even be able to talk. Hunk and I will work it out.”

If there’s anyone in the universe who can, it would be those two.

“Anyway, I’d better go, or else Lance is going to push me out of this chair so he can talk to his parents.”

There’s an indignant huff from off-screen, and Colleen feels a laugh from behind her.

“I love you Mum. I’ll talk to you soon.”

And the face disappears just as quickly as it arrived, dropping a small weight into a stomach filled with helium.

Before her conscious mind has even had time to process that the video is over, she’s hit replay.

**Author's Note:**

> @canon, just let the paladins tell their parents they're ok


End file.
